What do you do if your Direct Sales business is struggling to attract new customers?

There are many tactics that can be applied to help communicate your products/services to the market, so this should not be your primary concern. You should at first seek to understand why you are struggling to attract new customers. Conduct a sales/market audit looking at the market itself, changes in your customer buying behaviours and why, changes in your competition, the relevance of your product/service to the target audience at this point in time, your people and bench strength etc. I have seen many a company throw resources at marketing activities etc, but you will be wasting those resources if you do not evaluate why you are where you are first!

I would start from determining have you defined your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) ie where you fit and have a strong value proposition (not where you would like to be). Where does your product or service align well and fit well with a customers need/want? Now determine who in that ICP are your ideal personas that recognise the value or where your message lands to get you to the table. Do you have the target data for these persona's in this ICP? What is the available target universe for this data in the region you serve best. For example if 80% of your clients and 70% of your pipe is in region A then what is the available remaining market in this region for your CP/Persona. If enough then focus on obtaining this target data to go after

Figure out if the problem is the sales method or the value proposition of your product, is your team not productive? is the product or service outdated? Are there better alternatives? Etc. Fix or diversify.

If your direct sales business is struggling to attract new customers, consider refining your target audience and value proposition, enhancing your marketing strategy, focusing on customer relationships, utilizing networking and referral partnerships, offering promotions, seeking feedback, and investing in training and development for your sales team.

If direct sales business is struggling to attract new customers, motivate and encourage them over the existing customers and apprise them for more incentives on target achievements. There are chances of little knowledge of the product and its advancements, offer them FOC samples to strengthen the image of company thereby gaining confidence among them. Dealers net work is most preferable than reaching out end-customers with smaller quantities.

Simplicity is the key these days. We noticed in the past 20 years a migration from the existing logos to simplified ones. See the HP logo for example. Now they have just 4 parallel lines. One can no longer identify the letters unless you already know the brand.

Is your messaging clear enough of the Hot Button Statements / Lead Magnets to attract inbound or enable outbound conversations to start to the Personas in the ICP (as above)? If not hone this, do you have a value or offer / insights document or something you can provide to attract a suspect to engage with you in the 1st place.

If you are to go the social media route to drive pipeline then do you have the followers you need of your ICP/persona? if not then simply sharing lead magnets on your social accounts will not reach your target audience. You will need to look for social groups where you can engage where these suspects are..... or engage influencers who have reach to your target audience to carry your message, etc

What's working for me lately, is enhancing my networking relationships to become collaborations. I work in the skin care & cosmetic industry and recently did a YouTube collaboration with a Real Estate rep. We each shared tips on enhancing "curb appeal" for spring. I focused on personal confidence and curb appeal and the realtor focused on getting homes ready for the market. When we each share this video with our clients and audience, we double our reach. Find someone willing to collaborate, make it seasonal and fun, so you have opportunities to revisit and do future collabs.

If your direct sales business is struggling to attract new customers, sales training can be a valuable tool to help address this challenge. Here are some steps you can take: 1. Evaluate your current sales strategy 2. Refine your value proposition 3. Improve communication skills 4. Learn effective sales techniques 5. Utilize technology and tools

One part of sales training that I have seen make the largest impact on a team struggling to attract new business, is the qualifying stage of a deal. The first question you should ask your sales team at this point is: Can you describe our ideal customer? Make sure that this is understood by your marketing team as well. Your sales team should be consciously aware of their intended audience at all times. This will improve their ability to identify leads and more successfully guide them through the sales process. Make sure your team has been coached on qualifying leads and asking productive questions in their sales meetings.

The majority of sales reps are motivated by the incentives they get when closing a deal. Why not offer to the customers similar benefits? You might think it's against the company policy and that's true, however some companies offer a credit note at the end of the year for achieving higher sales.